Faith on Trial on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and on IowaCatholicRadio.com, examines the influence of law and society on Christianity and people of faith. "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Friday, March 31, 2017

Sunnyvale, CA—The Pacific Justice Institute
helped convince a Bay Area school district to abstain from adopting a proposed
sex education curriculum this week.

Parents who packed the Cupertino Union School District’s (CUSD) board meeting
were in an uproar over a curriculum that CUSD was considering adopting in
compliance with the California Healthy Youth Act, which became law in 2016. The
law, which requires public school districts to provide comprehensive sexual
health education to students in grades 7-12, also requires that (1) such
education be age-appropriate, (2) parents be given a full and fair opportunity
to review any proposed curriculum materials to determine whether such materials
are age-appropriate for their children, and (3) parents be allowed to opt their
children out of any portions of sex ed classes that they deem objectionable.

CUSD had only made the curriculum materials available during working hours over
a span of roughly three weeks, preventing many working parents of CUSD’s
roughly 18,000 students from reviewing the materials. Furthermore, the
curriculum materials included graphic descriptions of vaginal, oral, and anal
sex, along with material on homosexuality—all of which, many parents felt, is
too “adult” for their teen and pre-teen children. One parent even accused CUSD
of essentially presenting porn to a PG-13 audience.

Finally, CUSD admitted on its website that it would be very difficult for
parents to opt their children out of portions of sex ed courses that they
considered inappropriate.

“In enacting the Healthy Youth Act, the California Legislature explicitly
recognized that students’ parents and guardians are the best judges of what is
and is not age-appropriate for their children,” said PJI staff attorney Ray D.
Hacke, who sent a legal opinion letter to CUSD’s board prior to the meeting and
spoke on behalf of a group of concerned parents at the meeting. “The
Legislature thus empowered parents to help make that call. CUSD may have been
complying with part of the law in attempting to adopt the curriculum. However,
the district apparently forgot the part about enabling parents to play an
active role in their children’s education.”

Ultimately, CUSD’s five-member board deadlocked in a 2-2 vote, with one member
abstaining. A majority was needed for the curriculum to be adopted.

“Waiting on adopting the curriculum was the right call,” PJI President Brad
Dacus, and frequent FOT guest, said. “Hopefully CUSD will give parents more of
a chance to review the materials and recognize that when it comes to children’s
education, parents are their partners, not their adversaries.”

·
District of Columbia. Congressional Resolutions of Disapproval to
overturn “The Death with Dignity Act of 2015” in the District of Columbia (H.J.
Res 27/S.J. Res 4). Passed in a House committee but the full House and
Senate failed to act before the February 17 deadline. Assisted
suicide is now legal in the District of Columbia.

Roger Severino, director of the DeVoss Center
for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation, and a former guest
on Faith On Trial (July 19, 2016), has been appointed director of the Office of
Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Catholic News Agency (CNA) reports that
this could give a significant shift to how the department treats religious
freedom and life issues. Severino is a Harvard Law School graduate and had
spent his time at the Heritage Foundation working on religious issues. CNA
reports that Severino has written with concerns over the Pentagon’s gender
policy and the Obama Administration’s treatment of the Little Sisters of the
Poor.

Prior to his work at the Heritage Foundation
he served as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice. Before that he was
chief operations officer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

The blog promo for his appearance can be found
here and the podcast of his interview can be found on the Iowa Catholic Radio
web page by following the link.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public
interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, today announced that it is
representing two Chatham, New Jersey mothers who are being pilloried by their
community. Their crime: appearing on Fox TV’s Tucker Carlson Show to
voice concerns about Islamic indoctrination of Chatham Middle School seventh
graders.

Astonishingly, seventh graders in this public
school are taught: “May God help us all find the true faith, Islam.”

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center,
commented: “The promotion of Islam is worse than what the mothers presented to
Tucker Carlson. After viewing one of the videos which the seventh graders were
directed to watch, I can’t imagine any objective person saying this is not
Islamic indoctrination. Clueless school administrators across our nation
are allowing this type of indoctrination to take place and it’s up to vigilant
parents to stop it. Libby and Nancy should have been praised, not
pilloried.”

Libby Hilsenrath and Nancy Gayer, with sons in different classes in the seventh
grade, detailed their concerns in person to the Chatham Board of Education at
their February 6, 2017 public meeting. Superintendent Michael
LaSusa indicated that any change to the curriculum was unlikely, and the next
day also refused their request to meet privately with him to discuss their concerns.

Students had been shown a subtle propaganda cartoon video, 5 Pillars, which
opens with two boys, one of them a Muslim, kicking a soccer ball. The Muslim
teaches the non-Muslim the 5 Pillars of Islam. Additionally, a
subtitle of bright, multi-colored words of various shapes pronounces a form of
the Islamic conversion creed: “There is no god except Allah and Prophet
Muhammad is His messenger.” The cartoon ends with a sad non-Muslim boy, who
suddenly smiles when the Muslim boy invites him to join him at the mosque for
noon-day prayers. Something the teacher can’t personally do, but does through
the cartoon. Clever!

Clearly, seventh graders had been presented with a sugarcoated, false depiction
of Islam. They had not been informed of the kidnappings, beheadings,
slave-trading, massacres, and persecution of non-Muslims, nor of the repression
of women — all done in the name of Islam and the Koran.

Libby Hilsenrath and Nancy Gayer were subjected to personal attacks throughout
their campaign to stop Islamic indoctrination at the Chatham Middle School.
They were defamed as “bigots” and “Islamophobes”, “hateful”, “ignorant”,
“xenophobes”, “intolerant”, “racist”, “closed minded”, “sad and ignorant” in
social media, and the list goes on. The attacks significantly intensified
after their appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show.

Commenting on the community’s reaction, Nancy Gayer stated: “It’s just not fair
that within this unit of study the Chatham school district taught one religion
to the exclusion of all others, and for the community to be so unkind and
unwelcoming towards us, just for having raised legitimate questions as
concerned parents.”

Libby Hilsenrath added, “One of my fundamental obligations as a parent is to
guide the religious and secular education of my children. That’s why I
will continue the fight against the Islamic indoctrination now taking place at
Chatham, regardless of the personal attacks.”

Libby Hilsenrath and Nancy Gayer asked the board to review the curriculum and
requested that either the Islam lessons be removed or that the school spend
equal time on the study of Christianity and other religions.

Nancy Gayer contrasted the World Cultures and Geography lessons on Islam to her
son’s previous experience in fourth grade when he was precluded from including
a short quote from the Bible, "he who lends to the poor, lends to the Lord.”
(Prov 19:17) The quote was a part of his video presentation related to
gathering warm clothes for underprivileged children. Nancy said that her
son’s teacher informed him that the brief Biblical quote "belongs in
Sunday school, not in the classroom." Obviously, based upon the
World Cultures and Geography lessons being taught to children within the same
school district, this abridgment of religious speech does not apply to Islam.

Daleiden’s legal defense team member, Tom Brejcha,
President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Society, issued the following
statement in response:

"When it comes to felony charges against our client,
David Daleiden, history is on our side. When David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt
were falsely charged in Texas, after they mounted a vigorous defense, the
charges were abruptly dropped. We expect that the same will prove true in
California.

“The world knows that Planned Parenthood’s business
partners, DaVinci Biosciences and DV Biologics, have been sued by Orange
County, California. The lawsuit alleges that they illegally profited from the
sale of human baby body parts from abortions. This confirms the truth of what
has been depicted in Daleiden’s videos.

“David Daleiden and his co-defendant, Sandra Merritt, will
be vindicated. They will assert robust defenses to these charges. Their efforts
led to numerous criminal referrals by both Senate and House investigative
committees. Their efforts were furtherance of First Amendment values and are
clothed with the same Constitutional protection that all investigative
journalists deserve and must enjoy. Undercover journalism has been a vital tool
in our politics and self-governance.”

Monday, March 27, 2017

Sacramento,
CA—The latest battleground over gender
theory is coming to nursing homes—and failure to conform to State orthodoxy
could be a crime.

The mandates on long-term care facilities, their employees and even
non-employees are set forth in Senate Bill (SB) 219, proposed by Sen. Scott
Wiener (D-San Francisco). The bill is set for hearing on
Tuesday afternoon, March 28, in the Senate Human Services Committee
which Sen. Wiener chairs. The Pacific Justice Institute Center for Public
Policy sent a letter to the committee on Friday opposing
the bill.

In the letter, Kevin Snider of the PJI-CPP details a number of concerns with
the bill, including religious freedom, pronouns, names and compelled
speech. Among other things, the bill contains no exceptions for
religiously-operated institutions, which means nuns caring for the elderly and
disabled in covered facilities would be expected to embrace the State’s gender
ideology. The bill also fails to account for the sad reality that many
residents of long-term care facilities are not in their right minds and may
have delusions that should not be imposed on caregivers.

Brad Dacus, the president of the PJI-CPP and a frequent FOT guest, noted, “Radical
gender theory has real, negative consequences for society. All of us
should be alarmed by the attempt to now criminalize the use of legal names and
grammatically correct pronouns in nursing homes. We believe this bill is
not only unconstitutional, but unconscionable.”

We’re going to take a bit of a different turn
this week on FOT. We’re bringing back our old friends, filmmakers Stephen and
Richard Payne of Arcadia Films. You might remember them from last October when
their feature documentary “A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing” (article contains filmtrailer) about the rise of Saul Alinsky was aired by EWTN.

Since their first appearance on FOT many
things have happened in the country that certainly resemble the tactics of the
Alinsky crowd: shutting down of campus conservative speakers; violent attacks
on supporters of President Trump; threats against Christians and religious
freedom, as well as continued failure to acknowledge the results of the 2016
election.

Stephen Payne

Is this the rise of cultural Marxism or just
a passing phase? We’ll find out a bit more about this phenomena Tuesday at 9
(Central) on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM, and streaming on
IowaCatholicRadio.com. You can also download our app at the app store and
listen to past broadcasts at the station’s website. The program will be
re-broadcast at 9 p.m.

Richard Payne

Faith
On Trial with Deacon Mike Manno and Gina Noll is brought to you courtesy of our
loyal sponsors and underwriters: Attorney Rick McConville, Coppola, McConville,
Coppola, Carroll, Hockenberg & Scalise PC 2100 Westown Parkway, West Des
Moines, 515-453-1055; Confluence Brewing Company – off the Bike Trail just
south of Grey’s Lake, 1235 Thomas Beck Road where there is live entertainment
in the tap room every Thursday; and Robert Cota, Farm Bureau FinancialServices, 200 West 2nd Ave., Indianola, Iowa 50125, 515-961-4555 or
515-205-5642.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

California
may soon have thousands of rolling "billboards" supporting abortion,
thanks to proposed legislation that would authorize automobile license plates
promoting a woman’s right to choose. Senate Bill 309, authored by Santa Barbara
Democrat Hanna-Beth Jackson, would also serve as a fundraising vehicle for
abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. The bill is sponsored by NARAL
Pro-Choice California, which is also pushing several other pro-abortion bills
this year.

In
proposing the measure, Jackson took a swipe at President Donald Trump and the
Republican majority in Congress, saying their attempts to cut federal funding
for to reproductive health care services is what propelled her effort.

“We
will not stand idly by and let this happen,” Jackson said, adding, “This
license plate represents one way that we can demonstrate that we will stay true
to our values and the right of every woman to safe, affordable and quality
reproductive health care.

The
initial cost for the “California Trusts Women” plates would be $50, but at
least 7,500 of them would have to be ordered in advance before manufacturing
could begin. The annual renewal fee for the plates would be $40. The plate’s
design would be determined through a contest among Golden State artists.

According to a Los Angeles Times opinion
piece, the phrase “Trust Women” is a nod to late-term abortion doctor George
Tiller. The Kansas doctor was killed by an extremist in 2009 and has become a
hero for many abortion supporters.

Not
surprisingly, California is not among the 29 states that offer Choose Life
license plates. Additionally, groups in 16 other states are working to get
similar pro-life plates approved. In fact, California is one of only five
states in which there is no active effort for the pro-life specialty plates.

Washington,
DC—A major pro-life case is being filed
with the U.S. Supreme Court today that could become one of the biggest
abortion-related cases in years.
At issue is a California law that requires pro-life pregnancy clinics to post
signs telling visitors that they can obtain free or low-cost abortions and
related services by contacting the county health department. Similar laws
were struck down by federal courts of appeals in New York and Virginia, but the
San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found nothing wrong with the
mandate.
Pacific Justice Institute represents two pregnancy clinics, one each in
Northern and Southern California. The clinics contend that forcing them
to convey a government message that is reprehensible to their beliefs is an
egregious violation of the First Amendment. PJI is filing its brief,
known as a Petition for Writ of Certiorari, with the Supreme Court today.
Although most cases have roughly a 1% chance of being granted review by the
court, the contradictory rulings by the federal courts of appeals make it much
more likely the Supreme Court would weigh in.
Brad Dacus, president of PJI, and a frequent guest on FOT, commented, “This is an important day for the
future of free speech in America. If the government can force
conscientious Americans to advertise for the government and say things that
contradict their deeply-held beliefs, our liberties are lost. We are very
hopeful the Supreme Court will take up this case and restore free speech in
this crucial area of national debate.”

Monday, March 20, 2017

A local Nebraska group, Nebraskans for Founders Values
(NFV), an affiliate of MassResistance, and hundreds of school parents have
challenged the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) over a “Comprehensive” sex education
program established at allgrade
levels in the school district. One point of contention is that the sex-ed, homosexuality, and transgender lessons
are not only outrageously age-inappropriate, but are saturated with radical
LGBT ideology that is incongruent with actual science. is applicable to all
grade levels in the school district.

Joining Deacon Mike Manno and Gina Noll Tuesday for a discussion
of the program and why there is such resistance will be John Dockery, a
spokesman for the NFV and parents group. FOT airs every Tuesday at 9 a.m.
(Central) and is rebroadcast at 9 p.m. on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM; 88.5
& 94. 94.5 FM and streams on IowaCatholicRadio.com and can be heard
anywhere on the Iowa Catholic Radio app that you can download free from the app
store.

Faith On Trial is on the air courtesy of our loyal
sponsors and underwriters: Attorney Rick McConville, Coppola, McConville,
Coppola, Carroll, Hockenberg & Scalise PC 2100 Westown Parkway, West Des
Moines, 515-453-1055; Confluence Brewing Company – off the Bike Trail just
south of Grey’s Lake, 1235 Thomas Beck Road where there is live entertainment
in the tap room every Thursday; and Robert Cota, Farm Bureau Financial Services, 200 West 2nd Ave., Indianola, Iowa 50125, 515-961-4555 or
515-205-5642.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

(March 16, 2017
– Topeka, Kansas) Today, the Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit
dealing with the state’s law prohibiting the performance of dismemberment
(dilation and evacuation) abortions on live, unborn children. The
Thomas More Society’s friend of the court (amicus) brief in Hodes v.
Schmidt supports the ban, which is being challenged by two abortionists,
Dr. Herbert Hodes and his daughter, Dr. Traci Nauser. The law was passed
by the Kansas legislature and signed into law by Governor Sam Brownback.

The plaintiffs argue that the
measure violates Section One of the Kansas Bill of Rights, which provides that,
“all men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Hodes and Nauser insist
that this phrasing guarantees a woman a right to abortion at any stage. A
state trial court entered a temporary injunction against the ban and a divided
appellate court affirmed that injunction.

The Thomas More Society brief was
filed by Special Counsel Paul Benjamin Linton on behalf of the Family Research
Council, a national organization dedicated to promotion of marriage, family and
the sanctity of human life. Linton maintains that the Kansas Bill of Rights'
provision cited does not create a right to abortion in Kansas and therefore
cannot be used to block enforcement of the state law that aims to end the
widely-opposed gruesome practice of dismemberment
abortions.

A constitutional scholar, Linton
reviews similar provisions from 28 other states, none of which support the view
that Kansas' Bill of Rights provision creates a right to abortion. In fact,
Kansas outlawed abortion until Roe v. Wade. Linton points out that
Kansas courts have never previously interpreted Section One of the Kansas Bill
of Rights to create judicially enforceable substantive rights, and he
demonstrates that the dismembering of live, unborn children has no foundation
in the Kansas constitutional law.

Read the Brief Amicus Curiae of
the Family Research Council filed by the Thomas More Society in the case of
Hodes v. Schmidt, heard March 16, 2017,
in the Supreme Court of Kansas here.

About Paul Linton

Paul Benjamin Linton,
Thomas More Society Special Counsel, is a constitutional scholar based in
Northbrook, Illinois. He is the author of a standard legal treatise entitled, Abortion Under State Constitutions, A
State-by-State Analysis (Carolina Academic Press, 2nd edition, 2012), for
which principal funding was provided by the Thomas More Society.

About the Thomas More Society

The Thomas More Society
is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for
life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago and Omaha, the
Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality
pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up to the United
States Supreme Court. For more information, visit

Monday, March 13, 2017

Tuesday we’re going to discuss homeschooling
and an apparent overreach by school officials in one Kentucky school
district.Apparently, School officials
in the district were dispatched to monitor homeschooling families – similar to
the way that parole officers check up on and keep tabs on former inmates.“Just last month, several families in the
Paris Independent School District reported being

Tj Schmidt, HSLDA staff attorney

visited by school officials,” Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) Staff Attorney Tj Schmidt, Tuesday's guest, (see video below) reported. “If no one was at home, the visit was marked
by a doorhanger.”

One of the markers brought to HSLDA’s
attention requested a follow-up.

“Home school check. Please give us a call,”
read one of the district’s markers, which was signed by the local elementary
school’s principal. Schmidt contends that the state’s unwarranted infringement
on the education of homeschoolers is not wanted … and not legal.

“Two school officials who visited parent
Jenny Griffith at her home said the district intends to visit every home school
family three times this year,” Schmidt recounted. “As part of their plan to
help families, the school officials asked about attendance records and
curriculum. Before leaving, one official asked Jenny about meeting her child. “

Being intimidated by the threatening and intrusive
visitation, Griffith contacted HSLDA attorneys for legal advice and possible
legal representation if the unwelcomed home invasions continued.

“I got the impression that district staff
could become more difficult if I didn't cooperate in answering their questions
or bring out my child to meet them,” Jenny explained. “I tried to handle the
situation as civilly as possible – without adding any threat to them,” said one
parent.

Join Deacon Mike Manno and Gina Noll Tuesday
to discuss this and other matters of interest to people of faith. FOT airs at 9
a.m. (Central) on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and
streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com as well as our phone app that you can
download free from the app store. The program is re-broadcast at 9 p.m.

Faith On Trial is on the air courtesy of our
loyal sponsors and underwriters: Attorney Rick McConville, Coppola, McConville,
Coppola, Carroll, Hockenberg & Scalise PC 2100 Westown Parkway, West Des
Moines, 515-453-1055; Confluence Brewing Company – off the Bike Trail just
south of Grey’s Lake, 1235 Thomas Beck Road where there is live entertainment
in the tap room every Thursday; and Robert Cota, Farm Bureau FinancialServices, 200 West 2nd Ave., Indianola, Iowa 50125, 515-961-4555 or
515-205-5642.

Pages

Faith on Trial is where we examine the influence of law and society on Christianity. Here we will look at those cases and events that impinge on the rights of Christians to fully practice their faith. Join us every Tuesday morning at 9 or listen to our re-broadcast Tuesday evening at 9 (Central). The program can be heard on IowaCatholic Radio: 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming on iowacatholicradio.com. Host is Attorney and Deacon Mike Manno.